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Vindication on Why Autism Awareness and Acceptance are Important for Teaching

23rd April 2020

“Don’t think that there’s a different, better child ‘hiding’ behind the autism. This is your child. Love the child in front of you. Encourage his strengths, celebrate his quirks, and improve his weaknesses, the way you would with any child.” – Claire ScovellLaZebnik (Author)

The ignorance or just not accepting the special children demonstrates the elimination or the segregation of the special children in our society. In this modern-day teaching-learning world, the comprehensive and inclusive education focuses on the overall development of each and every child. Acceptance and awareness of special needs are still vital for educational training even if an educational institute overlooks it. Understanding autism with apt awareness will assist you to accept the veracity in which your student is breathing. It is hard to believe that, even in this current day world, some people look weirdly when they come across an autistic child. They don’t have any idea that this damage would last for a lifetime in the mind of the child. Consequently, the right knowledge and acceptance of autism are very much critical in order of a 21st-century inclusive educational world.

Autism is a developmental special ability that can have an effect on the process of communication and the behavioural growth of the child. This indicates that the child is affected in a different way that has distinctive potencies, challenges, and needs. The early recognition of autism is essential so that the child and his/her family can get the support as soon as feasible. To reach the incredible potential of the child, awareness and acceptance is necessary.

Autism affects children (sometimes adults too) differently. A child’s symptoms can be very different from how another child shows his/her symptoms. Usually, boys show autism differently to girls, which are often misunderstood and bullied as a consequence of ‘being different’. The special education teachers and the teaching assistants may have to incorporate different ways to make learning in the classroom reachable to all students. Awareness is the understanding that each autistic person is as diverse as any other person; it is the realization that autistic people can also accomplish the extraordinary growth if provided the right guidance.

Let’s discuss about acceptance. People may think that they embrace autism, but do they?

The acceptance is not just inviting an autistic kid over for a picnic or something like that. In a real sense, acceptance is that if you educate the kids to put forward that another step to connect with that autistic child rather than bullying the child. As a teacher, while providing the precise interventions for young children with autism, you can play an active role in supporting the children. Inclusive education contemplates on executing the best teaching practices for children with special needs surrounded by the regular classroom. All children get the chance to interact with their peers in inclusive classrooms and the interaction gives students with autism a prospect to observe different communication skills in day to day situations.

The positive strengthening will be helpful for the children with special needs but punishments will not and as a teaching professional you need to understand this. Generally, children with autism show the stereotypic behaviors when they are motivated, uninterested, or stressed out. To teach children with special needs you need to incorporate simple language and short sentences, thus the online autism course program prepares the teaching profession and even parents as well. Awareness is the primary step and you need to move forward to comprehend and to accept. Acceptance is more than just opening flaps; it is opening your heart as well.